Tour De France, ave that Millar

[Stat Brother]

Damino Cunego, is my man to watch.

When the route was realised I doubt Evans was punching the air with joy.
He's unlikely to ride away from anyone over the big passes, and that's when ALL the climbers will be lining up to take time off him.
Lotto aren't quite a Discovery-esque GC team still, just, hanging onto their 1 day classic past.

Top ride by Millar, yesterday. Judging by his pre race talking he'd ear marked today as his day in yellow. Sadly it wasn't to be.

Cavo, very sadly for him, is 2 years to late, until he concentrates solely on road racing.
T-Mobile (would have been his team then) could have got me over the line 1st, and 5 'sprint' stages in the 1st week, would have given Cav at least 2 of them. But now Columbia can't control the peleton like T-Mobile could.

 

[Stat Brother]

And, if you took race radios out this year, the riding would be great and completely mental.

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

Damino Cunego, is my man to watch.

When the route was realised I doubt Evans was punching the air with joy.
He's unlikely to ride away from anyone over the big passes, and that's when ALL the climbers will be lining up to take time off him.
Lotto aren't quite a Discovery-esque GC team still, just, hanging onto their 1 day classic past.

Top ride by Millar, yesterday. Judging by his pre race talking he'd ear marked today as his day in yellow. Sadly it wasn't to be.

Cavo, very sadly for him, is 2 years to late, until he concentrates solely on road racing.
T-Mobile (would have been his team then) could have got me over the line 1st, and 5 'sprint' stages in the 1st week, would have given Cav at least 2 of them. But now Columbia can't control the peleton like T-Mobile could.

Cunego is a good young talent but he'd have to blitz them in the mountains to get a big enough advantage going into that 2nd last TT stage.

And his Lampre team must also be suspect as to how much support they can give him when needed.

As for Evans in the mountains the only riders who rode away from him last year were basically Rassmussen and Contodor.

He was able to stay with everyone else despite having no team support bar Chris Horner.

Now he has Popovych it gives him that little bit extra assistance.

CSC probably has the best group of climbers in their team but none of them can TT which means they would also need to find big chunks of time in the mountains.


For mine though it will come down to Evans and Kirchen as they are the best two all round riders in the field.

And at this stage Silence riders have been conserving their energy alot more than Columbia have in these early stages.


Cavendish might now fall victim to Kirchen's high GC position and the team might not send many riders forward for him if it comes to a sprint finish on stage 5.

He'll have to get onto someone elses wheel like a Zabel or Hunter to try and pull him into the race.

 

[dennis]

My monies on Damiano CUNEGO or Kim KIRCHEN as an outside bet.

 

[adrian29uk]

As usual not one mention of David Millar in any of the news as to how well he is doing.

On Talksport the Tour was mentioned for around 30 seconds yesterday. The presenter said "So how many stages is the tour?", just about sums it up really.

Then they started talking about Aresenal, Man Utd again and how adebayor is worth more than 30k a week lol.

Cycling will never be taken seriously in this country.

 

[Collar Feeler]

Anybody tested positive for drugs yet?!? That usually shakes the leaderboard up a bit.

 

[Perry's Tracksuit Bottoms]

Millar will be looking for a breakaway before the mountains for his chance at yellow. Because he's not a serious GC contender (sorry Redland) he might just be allowed to pull it off.

 

[Marc]

I witnessed the Tour De Swiss blast past me in Gstaad when I was young...WELL exciting it was, nabbed a water bottle as a rider threw it from his bike (washed it obviously before using)

 

[Woodchip]

Cavendish might now fall victim to Kirchen's high GC position and the team might not send many riders forward for him if it comes to a sprint finish on stage 5.

He'll have to get onto someone elses wheel like a Zabel or Hunter to try and pull him into the race.

Fair point, however, I think Team High Road/Team Columbia (whatever name they are using today - stupid UCI rules) know full well that Cavendish will be the better bet over the 23 days.

The current breakaway is being hauled in from 8" 15 to about 7" now. I doubt the pelaton will let the breakway win today, and I quite fancy Cavendish to win the support of Adam Hansen.

 

[ATFC Seagull]

Millar isn't too good when it comes to the mountain stages. To win the Tour you need to win several stages , do well in the time trial stages and stay in with the leading group in the mountains.

You don't necessarily need to win stages at all, especially now as there is no time bonus.

And last year it was won in the mountains by an out-and-out climber, albeit via an out-of-nowhere time trial performance.

 

[Woodchip]

You don't necessarily need to win stages at all, especially now as there is no time bonus.

And last year it was won in the mountains by an out-and-out climber, albeit via an out-of-nowhere time trial performance.

As an addition to your comment, there are only 2 time trial stages this year, so you can't rely on your ability in the time trials.

 

[Zesh Rehman]

Cavendish doesnt stand a chance, he always fucks up. But good luck to Millar, a Scottish person i do like

 

[Stat Brother]

Cunego is a good young talent but he'd have to blitz them in the mountains to get a big enough advantage going into that 2nd last TT stage.

And his Lampre team must also be suspect as to how much support they can give him when needed.

As for Evans in the mountains the only riders who rode away from him last year were basically Rassmussen and Contodor.

He was able to stay with everyone else despite having no team support bar Chris Horner.

Now he has Popovych it gives him that little bit extra assistance.

CSC probably has the best group of climbers in their team but none of them can TT which means they would also need to find big chunks of time in the mountains.


For mine though it will come down to Evans and Kirchen as they are the best two all round riders in the field.

And at this stage Silence riders have been conserving their energy alot more than Columbia have in these early stages.


Cavendish might now fall victim to Kirchen's high GC position and the team might not send many riders forward for him if it comes to a sprint finish on stage 5.

He'll have to get onto someone elses wheel like a Zabel or Hunter to try and pull him into the race.

Time will tell, TB, although I'm not 100% on Cunego, I am fairly convinced Evans is going to be the bridesmaid yet again.
It's sure gonna be interesting

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

Cavendish wins the stage.

Though it was a shame the French lad whom was in the breakaway for over 200kms only got run down in the last 200 metres.

Columbia used their whole team to get Cavendish the win which surprises me as i'd have thought they'd be keeping them fresh fro Kirchens assault on the GC.

 

[ManxSeagull]

Cavendish doesnt stand a chance, he always fucks up. But good luck to Millar, a Scottish person i do like

How can you say he always fucks up.

He had some bad luck in last year's tour getting caught up in crashes whilst contesting the sprints.

He had two wins in this years Giro d'Italia plus 6 further stage wins to go with his Madison gold (for the second time) at this years world track championships

His record over the past two and half years is pretty good (last years was his rookie season as a road racer):

2007 Event Team
Silver UCI World Track Cup, Beijing, Madison T- Mobile
1st CIrcuit Franco Belge, Stage 3 T-Mobile
2nd Circuit Franco Belge GC & Points Jersey T-Mobile
1st Tour of Britain Prologue, Stage 1, Points & Sprints Jersey T-Mobile
1st Tour of Eneco Stage 2 & Points Jersey T-Mobile
1st Tour of Denmark Stage 6 & Points Jersey T-Mobile
1st Ster Elektrotoer Stage 4 T-Mobile
1st Volta Ciclista a Catalunya - Stage 2 & 6 T-Mobile
1st 4 Jours de Dunkerque - Stage 3, 6& Points Jersey T-Mobile
1st Scheldeprijs Vlaanderen T-Mobile
2nd Etoile de Bessèges - Stage 1 T-Mobile

2006 Event Team
GOLD Commonwealth Games - Scratch Race Isle of Man
7th Commonwealth Games - Road Race Isle of Man
1st Tour of Britain - Points Jersey T-Mobile
2nd Tour of Britain - Stage 4 T-Mobile
2nd Tour of Britain - Stage 5 T-Mobile
3rd Tour of Britain - Stage 6 T-Mobile
11th World Championships - Road Race (under 23) GB
4th World Championships - Madison GB
3rd Sydney World Cup - Madison GB
4th Moscow World Cup - Madison GB
1st Course De La Solidarite Olympique Sparkasse
1st Thuringen Rhundfahrt - Stage 5 Sparkasse
2nd Tour of Berlin Sparkasse
2nd Tour of Berlin - Stage 2 Sparkasse
1st Tour of Berlin - Stage 4 Sparkasse
1st Tour of Berlin - Stage 5 Sparkasse
1st Tour of Berlin - Points and Sprints Jerseys Sparkasse
2nd Tour De Langkawi - Stage 8 GB
4th Sparkassen Bochum Giro Sparkasse

He is only 23 and has several years ahead competiting at the highest level.

He will probably never win the whole tour as he is pure sprinter and will never be a climber in the mountains. He states himself that "I'm absolutely dire at it. I'm 100% a sprinter ... an old school one, not one of these new guys that can climb and sprint".

A lot of pro riders have gone on record this year saying he is the quickest sprinter in world at the moment.

Yes I am slightly bias as he hails from the Isle of Man.

 

[essbee]

Family man,

I also went to watch the Tour last year near Goudhurst but they
had to close the village it was so busy. Mind - got a fab view just
down the road...so close to the cyclists it was dangerous!

You weren't the chap I recognised and said hello to walking back to
the car afterwards were you?I recognised you because I used to sit behind
you at Withdean?

 

[Stat Brother]

I'm well pleased for the chap, and glad I can carry my mystic stat abilities on from Wimbledon. Cunego must be weeping in his pasta, tonight, as his season comes crashing down around him.

The speed Cav had to beat big Tom at this years Scheldeprijs Vlaanderen left me speechless.

 

[ATFC Seagull]

Not unhappy to be proved wrong. Guess that was what I was missing by having not watched the Giro!

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

Cavendish shows why he is the best spinter in the world at the moment. Miller must have a chance of taking yellow tommorow if he can last the climbs and get ahead of Kirchen.

 

[ATFC Seagull]

Cavendish shows why he is the best spinter in the world at the moment. Miller must have a chance of taking yellow tommorow if he can last the climbs and get ahead of Kirchen.

Would hope so, but you'd think that someone out of the Evans/Valverde/Menchov gang will really go for it tommorow, although with it so tense perhaps not.